Sheesh is right, J. CAP is all politics as far as I am concerned. It is all about protecting the careers and paychecks of the general pathology community.
I am thouroughly unimpressed with JCAHO, CAP et al. If all you need to legally run a laboratory is to be CLIA inspected, then WHY BOTHER with these subjective entities? The BS I have heard over the last few months concerning MOHS surgery specimens is one glaring example of the limitations CAP has in understanding fully certain nuances of the lab trade. Ridiculous. Unless you want the marketing and potential "perception" that you are better covered from a legal standpoint, CAP certs are worthless. The more I hear about CAP certifications, the more I see it as a certain community of individuals who are protecting their perceived "TURF." In the end, the pathologists in the group and in the facility in which you are working have to take responsibility for these matters. If the docs think a CAP cert is necessary, then do it and live with it. If not, then consider yourself lucky to not have to see these people in your lab. I have been through MANY CAP inspections in and out of the military. For the most part, though, I see people paying this organization to inspect their lab as the same thing as "burning a pinch of incense in honor of great Caesar, ruler of Rome." It will get you some kudos, but tangibly not change much at all if your pathologists or HR $ hiring hands want to pocket more $ as a result of hiring "pregnant out of wedlock 16 year olds" to gross tissue and cut slides. Seen it. AB _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet